Arthritis and Me

About the Book

My name is Monique McKenzie, and I was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis since age six. The doctor that diagnosed me informed me that I would be in a wheelchair and no longer able to walk at fifteen. By the grace of God, I am thirty years old and still standing and determined to pursue my career in event planning. I have struggled with having RA growing up because I was not able to involve myself in sports while in school like other kids could, but that never stopped me. I continued to keep myself active and involve myself in various clubs and organizations, so that I may feel part of a team. I have made mistakes and been in unstable relationships that caused me to lose my character and at times my self-respect. I am also a single mother with no sounds or whereabouts from my baby’s father and have struggled raising my child on my own for ten years. I continue to live my life with no regrets, only because it made me who I am today and moving forward is the only way I remain going!

About the Author

My name is Monique Mckenzie, and I was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis since age six. The doctor that diagnosed me informed me that I would be in a wheelchair and no longer able to walk at the age of fifteen. By the grace of God, I am thirty years old and still standing and determined to pursue my career in event planning. I have struggled with having RA growing up because of the fact that I was not able to involve myself in sports or any other extracurricular activities, while in school like other kids could, but that never stopped me. I continued to keep myself active and involve myself in various clubs and organizations, so that I could feel part of a team. In my young adult stage, I have made mistakes with people I associated with that I called friends, as well as being in unstable relationships that was filled with nothing but heartache, and causing me to lose my character and sometimes my self-respect. With the thought of knowing the situation was not right, but just could not seem to find my way out of it; which only caused problems to become worse. I knew what I wanted in life and it was only up to me to pursue it, since giving up on my future dreams and goals was never an option for me. I am also single mother with no sounds of my baby’s father and have struggled raising my child on my own for 10 years. I continue to live my life with no regrets, only because it made me who I am today and moving forward is the only way I will remain going!